By Our Reporter

For a man whose public life has been spent under the weight of leadership, politics and responsibility, Nigeria President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu says there is one journey he would willingly take again — the journey that led him to his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

As the First Lady turned 66 on Monday, September 21, the President set aside the language of government and politics to speak about the woman who, according to him, has remained beside him through the difficult and uncertain seasons of their lives.

“Oluremi mi,” he began.

Then came a tribute filled with memories of companionship, sacrifice, prayer and love.

Tinubu described Oluremi as a woman who has walked beside him with “patience, grace and uncommon courage.” He recalled the Yoruba saying, “Ìyàwó rere ni adé ọkọ rẹ̀” — a good wife is her husband’s crown — and said she had given those words meaning in his own life.

But perhaps the most personal part of the message was his admission that many of the burdens he carried did not remain his alone.

According to the President, there were thoughts he could not put into words that his wife somehow understood. In difficult moments, he said, she stayed calm, prayed with him and offered counsel — sometimes even before he asked for it.

There were also moments when her presence itself was enough.

That, he said, was why he called her his “truest friend and confidante.”

Tinubu acknowledged that his wife did not simply tell him what he wanted to hear. She told him what she believed he needed to hear, even when the truth was uncomfortable.

Their relationship, in his account, has therefore been more than a public partnership.

It has been a private place of honesty.

A home.

A refuge.

And a friendship that has survived the pressures of a long public journey.

The President also reflected on the family they built together, saying their children and grandchildren had grown beneath Oluremi’s prayers and carried her values of faith and kindness.

Beyond the family, he spoke about her humanitarian work, mentioning her involvement with the New Era Foundation and the Renewed Hope Initiative, through which, he said, she has supported young people, widows, elderly citizens and women farmers. He also praised her advocacy for people affected by tuberculosis and other diseases.

But it was when he returned to their shared journey that the birthday message became deeply personal.

“A long journey teaches a man the true value of a good partner,” the President wrote.

He remembered difficult decisions they had discussed for hours and sacrifices that, he said, few people ever saw.

Through those moments, he said, there was laughter.

There was prayer.

And there was companionship.

Then came the sentence that captured the heart of the tribute:

“If life returned me to the beginning, I would choose the same road that led me to you.”

He added that through every mile, his heart had remained at home with her.

For Oluremi, the message was more than a birthday greeting.

It was her husband’s public acknowledgement of the years they have shared — the visible moments Nigerians saw and the countless private sacrifices they never did.

At 66, the First Lady received from the President not merely a wish for another year, but a declaration that if he were given another opportunity to begin the journey, he would walk the same road again.

Tinubu ended by thanking her for the life they had built and the love that had held it together.

He prayed that God would grant her many more years in good health and joy, and that the years ahead would return to her the comfort and happiness she had given him and many others.

Sometimes, after decades together, love is no longer found in grand promises.

It is found in the person who stays.

The person who listens.

The person who tells you the truth when you would rather hear something else.

The person who prays with you when the future is uncertain.

And, perhaps most importantly, the person you would choose all over again.